American to Install Runway Overrun Safety Technology on Planes

American Airlines will become the first airline to install a new technology dubbed ROPS (Runway Overrun Prevention System), developed by Airbus, that warns pilots during the landing if they won’t be able to stop once on the ground, on single-aisle planes.

The system uses aircraft weight, speed, position, weather, runway topography, and other relevant factors to determine if a landing pilot will be able to stop safely.

The technology will be installed on all of American’s Airbus A320 family aircraft including the 120 Airbus A321 jets that the airline will start to take delivery of later this year.

“Our pilots appreciate the operational benefits that this industry-approved cockpit technology will bring to their daily work,” said Capt. John Hale, American’s chief pilot, adding that the airline was “proud” to be the first to equip its complete A320 fleet with the technology.

The technology, already in use on the majority of Airbus A380 jumbo jets, prevents a plane from rolling off the side or end of a runway. The airline industry has been focusing on runway accidents for years; in late 2012, Boeing, a competitor of Airbus, introduced new landing procedures intended to combat the problem, which is the most common cause of airplane accidents.

The coronavirus is now affecting 104 countries and territories across the globe and many travelers are postponing or cancelling their travel plans as a result.
In some cases, a traveler is holding off because travel to his destination is simply not possible due to quarantine and containment rules; in others, it’s simply a desire not to go somewhere where one might end up with the coronavirus or trapped in a quarantined …

In early May, Warren Buffett divested all of his investment firm’s holdings in the four major U.S. airlines, warning that the “world has changed” for the aviation industry due to the coronavirus crisis. In mid May, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he saw a bumpy road ahead for the airline industry and predicted that a major carrier would not survive 2020 as a result.
It appears Buffett and Calhoun were on …